Printing machine



Aug. 4, 1936 F. P. SAGER PRINTING MACHINE Filed May 24, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet l &

Aug. 4, 1936. F. P. SAGER 2,049,592

PRINTING MACHINE Filed May 24, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 qflf/ A V A I Y J 7 I Ema/who L ff 'ankE Sayer Aug. 4, 1936. F. P. SAGER PRINTING MACHINE Filed May 24, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 24, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 w W 4 z w 7 .l a 7 7. /0 x Z I w A 4 M 7 a O I 3 {I} 7 7 gig fiankl? Sager I WW4 Patented Aug. 4, 1936 STATES UNii AEN'E' OFFME PRINTING MACHINE Application May 24, 1935, Serial No. 23,161)

1 Clainm This invention relates to a printing machine adapted to the printing of postage stamps upon mail matter, and is of the multi-denomination type, and more particularly to means for locating and maintaining the selected multi-denomination printing die in correct printing register and the multi-ratio driving means in correct driv ing relation during the printing action of the machine.

Unless the selected multi-denomination printing die correctly registers with the printer head of the machine, the printing of the value in the stamp may not be clear and distinct; as, for example, should the selected value printing die be turned but slightly from its correct printing position, the top or bottom of the figure will only be printed. In some cases it has been found that the value printing die has been so far out of register during the printing action of the machine as to render the partially printed figure practically illegible.

It is therefore one of the principal objects of this invention to provide means operable for 10- eating and maintaining the selected multi-de nomination printing die in correct printing register during the printing action of the machine,

whereby the selected value will be clearly and distinctly printed in the stamp.

A further object is to provide means for maintaining the selected multi-ratio driving means located in correct driving relation during the printing action of the machine.

Other objects and advantages ofv the invention will become apparent as the nature of the same is more fully understood from the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth what is now considered to be a preferred embodiment. It should be understood, however, that this particular embodiment of the invention is chosen principally for the purpose of exemplification, and that variations therefrom in details of construction or arrangement of parts may accordingly be effected and yet remain within the spirit and scope of the invention as the same is set forth in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a side elevational view of the printing machine partially in section.

Figure 2 illustrates a sectional View taken substantially in the plane of line 22 of Fig. 1.

. Figure 3 illustrates an enlarged fragmental View of the printer head, multi-denomination printing means, selector, and locating means. This figure shows these parts in the positions they will assume while the machine is at rest.v

Figure 6 illustrates a view similar to Figure 5, 10

but showing the position of the parts during the printing, and registering action of the machine.

Figure 7 illustrates an enlarged fragmental, schematic, sectional view through the meters and multi-ratio driving means therefor.

15 The novel features of the printing machine illustrated in the. drawings, include the provision of independent means for maintaining the selected multi-denomination and multi-ratio means accurately located during the printing action of the machine.

The locating devices are arranged to release the multi-denomination and multi-ratio means while the machine is inactive, in order that these means may be set for a different value.

The particular, construction of the printing 25 machine is not of great importance as long as it lends itself to the installation of the above setforth features.

The printing machine illustrated in the drawings is of known form, and as no claims are directed thereto, it will be briefly described.

7 Printing machine The printing machine may include an appropriately formed base casting it having a fiat bottom portion M, an integrally cast rear wall I2, and suitable brackets, standards and bearings for operatively supporting the several elements of the machine.

A printer head it is suitably mounted upon the forward ends of the spaced swing arms l4 and I5, which arms at their rearward ends, are pivotally mounted upon a cross shaft l6 carried by the base casting rear wall. l 2. I

The under face of the printer head is provided with a printing die ll having an appropriate type face for the printing of all of a postage stamp, excepting for the denomination thereof.

The machine illustrated is adapted to the print- 5 printable by the machine may be made to suit 5 any particular operating condition by providing the machine with appropriate multi-denomination printing and multi-ratio driving means.

The multi-denomination printing means may include providing the printer head with a rotatable member l8, (Figs. 3 and 4), having as illustrated herein, four peripherally spaced denomination printing dies IS.

The four denomination printing dies are as follows: A 2-cent die, Hm; a 3-cent die, 19b; a 6- cent die, I90; and a 10-cent die, I9d. In Figures 3 and 4, the 2-cent die, I91), is illustrated in printing register with the printing die [1. 20 is made fast upon one end of member l8, whereby this member may be rotated to bring any one of the other value printing dies into printing register, by a selector means later to be described.

The machine is provided with a driving mechanism including a drive shaft 2| suitably journaled therein. The rear end of the drive shaft may be extended through the rear wall l2 of the base casting, and provided with one element of an Oldham coupling for making driving connection with any suitable form of driving means, such as, for example, the Power plant set forth in the United States Letters Patent No. 1,988,036, issued January 15, 1935, to John Q. Finfrock. The forward end of the drive shaft may be provided with a driving crank 22, which cooperates with an appropriate cam plate 23 carried by the printer head for swinging the printer head into printing relation to a suitable platen 24, which platen is carried by the forward end of the base casting in opposed relation to the printer head.

For each revolution of shaft 2|, the printer head will be actuated through one complete printing cycle.

Means are provided for registering the value of each stamp printed, which means may inelude a subtracting meter 25 and an adding meter 26. These meters are of usual construction, and therefore need not be described in detail. It will be understood that the value of each stamp printed, will be subtracted from the value previously set up in the meter 25, and added to the balance registered in meter 26.

In order to actuate the meters to register therein, a value proportional to the value of each stamp printed, a multi-ratio driving means is provided to form a variable driving connection between the main drive shaft 2| and units wheels of the respective meters. As the multi-ratio driving means is alike for each meter, a brief description for one will suifice for both. The multiratio driving means for meter 26 has been chosen for description and includes a main shaft driving gear 21, an idler gear 28, and a spindle gear 29. The spindle gear 29 is fixedly carried upon one end of spindle 30, which spindle may be journaled upon the main meter shaft 3|. The spindle is provided with a driving key 32. A ratio sleeve. 33 is slidably mounted upon the spindle, and is provided with a key-way cooperating with the driving key 32 whereby the sleeve will be rotated by a rotation of the spindle, but may be freely shifted therealong.

The multi-ratio sleeve may have fastened thereon four ratio gears: 33a, 33b, 33c, and 33d. The ratio gear 3312 may be provided with two teeth; gear 331) with three teeth; gear 330 with six teeth; and gear 33d with ten teeth.

The ratio gears above referred to are also provided with a locking surface 34a, 34b, 34c, and 34d. In parallel relation to the meter shaft 31 A pinion is a shaft 35, having fastened thereto a ratio pinion 36. Also fastened upon shaft 35 is a units wheel driving pinion 31 maintained in constant driving mesh with the units wheel driven gear 38.

The ratio pinion 36 is provided with a locking 5 disc 39, which cooperates with any one of the following locking surfaces 34a, 34b, 340, or 34d, which has been moved into register therewith by the selector means to prevent rotation of the ratio pinion until the gear teeth of the selected 10 ratio gear reaches the teeth of the driving pinion during operation of the machine. In this way, the units wheel of the meter will be locked against turning except by the action of the ratio gears and pinion, and also the teeth of the drivl5 ing pinion will be maintained in position to readily mesh with the teeth of the selected ratio gear when brought into engagement during the operating cycle of the machine.

It will be necessary, of course, to move the 20 correct ratio gear into driving relation with the ratio pinion for the printing of a stamp of selected value, and for this purpose the ratio gears are made to slide longitudinally with relation to the ratio pinion, thereby serially bringing the 25 ratio gears into mesh therewith. It is only necessary, therefore, to provide an operating connection with a hand lever 40 of the selector means.

The means for operatively connecting the selector lever 40 with the ratio sleeve 33, may include providing a reciprocatory shaft 4| slidably mounted in the meter frame in any suitable manner.

A crosshead 42 may be fastened upon the forward end of shaft 4|, and may be arranged to engage the annular groove 43 formed in the end of the ratio sleeve to provide a freely rotatable connection with the sleeve, and yet to provide a connection which will cause the ratio sleeve to slide in direct ratio to reciprocatory motion of the shaft.

The shaft 4| may be provided with a depending arcuate finger 44 (Figs. 2, 5 and 6), closely fitting a correspondingly shaped depression 45 formed in the free end of lever arm 46, which lever arm may be fastened upon a transverse shaft 41. The outer end of shaft 41 may be provided with a lever 48 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4), having its free end operatively connected to the selector lever 40 by means of link 49.

The selector lever, through the mechanism just described, may be actuated to slide the ratio sleeve to position any one of its ratio gears in driving relation with the ratio pinion 36.

The selector. lever 40 is also connected to the multi-denomination printing means whereby any one of the value printing dies may be brought into printing register. As the multi-denomination and multi-ratio means are both connected to and operated by the selector lever, it is an easy matter to correlate these means so that for each value printing die turned into printing register, the related ratio gear of the multiratio means will be positioned in driving relation with the ratio pinion 36, whereby 'for any denomination selected for printing, a proportional value will be registered in the meters.

The selector lever 40 may be journaled to the machine as by a suitable pivot pin 50, and op- The selector rack may be slidably carried by swing arm I5, and provided with rack teeth 53 along its forward under edge, which rack teeth are at all times maintained in mesh with the teeth of the multi-denomination pinion 20.

Due to the connection between the selector lever and multi-denomination printing means, a movement of lever 4ll'w'ill cause a proportional turning movement of the multi-denomination printing means whereby any one of the value printing dies l9 may be placed in printing position.

A positioning pawl 54 may be pivotally fastened to the machine frame. as by means of pivot pin 55, and may be provided at its forward end withv a positioning comb 56 having a well.- rounded depression 51 for each value of the multi-denomination printing means. The positioning comb is adapted to cooperate with a roller 58 journally mounted upon. the side face of the selector lever, and is yieldingly urged into operative relation with the roller by means of spring 59,v (Fig. 1).

It will be understood that the positioning comb does not lock the selector lever in any one of its printing positions; it merely acts to locate the selector lever at any one of four different positions and to yieldingly maintain the lever at a selected position until forcibly moved therefrom.

When the selector lever is shifted to the first combnotch 51 as illustrated in Figures 1, 3 and 4, thetwo-cent multi-denomination printing die lea will be rotated into printing position, and the multi-ratio driving gear 33a, having two teeth, will be shifted into driving relation with the ratio pinion '36. If the machine is now actuated through a printing cycle, a twocent stamp will be printed and two cents will be added to meter 25 and subtracted from meter 25. If, at the conclusion of the printing cycle the selector lever is shifted to the second comb notch, the three-cent multi-denomination printing die l9b will be turned into printing position, and the multi-ratio driving gear 33b having three teeth,

will be shifted into driving ratio whereby during the printing action of the machine a threecent stamp will be printed, and three cents will be added to meter 26 and subtracted from meter 25. With the selector leverlocated in the third comb notch, a six-cent stamp may be printed and registered, and finallywhen the lever is placed adjacent the fourth notch 51, a ten-cent stamp may be printed and registered.

The machine thus far described is of known form. In the operation of machines of this type, ithas been found that in some cases the value printing dies do not correctly register with the stamp printing dies, and as a result thereof, the value is imperfectlyprinted in the stamp. It. is one of the objects of this invention to provide means for correcting'this fault, for which purpose I provide a multi-denomination locating means, which will automatically function during the printing action of the machine to locate the selected die in correct printing register, and to so maintain the die until after the completion of the printing operation.

Locating means for the multi-denomination printing dz'c The" locating means for the multi-denomination printing die may include a locating comb 65, (Figs. 1, 3 and 4) which comb may be securely fastened to the base casting in any appropriate manner. The locating comb may be provided with four arcuate upwardly directed guideways having their curvatures concentric with the axis of cross shaft it, which. shaftpivotally supports the swing arm l5. The four guideways are designated em, Slb, Glc and Bid.

In Figure 3 a laterally projecting tooth 62 is shown located directly above the guideway 61a of the locating comb 6B, but may be positioned directly above any one of the other guideways by shifting the selector lever to one of its three other positions.

The tooth 62 may be carried by the pivot pin 63 which operatively connects link 52 with the selector rack 5i.

While the machine is maintained inactive as shown in Figure 3, the tooth will be maintained above and entirely free of the locating comb, thus enabling the selector lever to be freely actuated, but during the printing action of the machine will enter and traverse the selected guideway. The tooth is carried into the selected guideway dur-. ing the operation of the machine by the selector rack, which is mounted upon the swing arm H5.

The entrance end of each of the giudeways is suitably expanded, whereby should the selector lever for any reason fail to accurately align the tooth with its selected guideway, the tooth will be nicely guided therein. As tooth 52 is carried by the selector rack, and as this'rack in turn directly meshes with pinion 25 which is fastened to the multi-denomination printing means, it follows that the engagement of tooth 62 with its selected guideway will maintain the selected denomination printing die in correct printing register during the printing action of the machine.

Should the selector lever for any reason fail to correctly align tooth 62 with the selected guideway, the tooth will be guided therein due to the well-rounded engaging edge of the tooth and to the expanded entrance end of the guideway, and will thereby act to move the selector rack 51 sufiiciently to correctly locate the selected printing die.

From the above description it will be appreciated that I have provided means which will function to not only correctly locate the selected printing die in printing register, but will also function to maintain the die located in printing register during the printing action of the machine.

It should also be appreciated that by this tooth and comb locating'means, that the multi-denomination printing means will be securely locked in its adjusted position during the operating cycle of the machine, and will thus be securely guarded against misuse.

It is likewise important to provide means for maintaining the selected ratio gear in correct driving relation to the ratio pinion 36, whereby a correct value will be entered into the respective meters for each operation of the machine.

Locating means for the muZti-ratio driving means The locating means for themulti-ratio driving means may include (Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6), a locating comb Ml fastened to the inner face of the swing arm I4, (Fig. 2), as by means of a channel-shaped spacer III and rivets 12. The locating comb 10 may be provided with four downwardly directed open-ended guideways 73a, 13b, 13c and 1315. The lever arm 45 of the multiratio shifting means may be provided with a downwardly extending arm 14, having a laterally projecting roller pin 15 suitably fastened to its free end. A roller 16 may be journalled upon pin 15, and may cooperate with the locating comb guideways in a manner to be described.

The ends 11 and 18 of the locating comb may be made of sufficient length to engage the roller 16 at each end of its normal travel to prevent over-travel of arm 14, and thereby acting to prevent over-travel of the ratio sleeve 33.

The guideways 13a, 13b, I30 and 13d, are formed in the locating comb between the ends 11 and I8.

Figure 5 illustrates the machine at rest and in this figure it may be noted that the roller 16 is in alignment with, but clear of the two-cent guideway 13a. By means of the selector lever, the roller may be shifted into alignment with any one of the other three guideways.

If it is desired to print a two-cent stamp, the selector lever will be left in its two-cent printing position as illustrated in Figures 1 and 3, which will place roller 16 in alignment with the twocent guideway 13a. During the operation of the machine the comb 10 will be swung downwardly; due to its connection with swing arm M, to a position as shown in Figure 6, wherein the guideway 131; has moved down over roller l6.

As roller 16 is carried by arm 14 of the lever 46, which lever controls the movement of the ratio sleeve 33 through the mechanism previously described, it follows that the movement of the selected guideway, in this case the two-cent guideway 130., down over the roller, will accurately locate the two-cent ratio gear 33a in correct driving relation with the ratio pinion 36. The roller and guideway also form a locking means for locking the selected ratio gear in its correct driving relation during the operation of the machine.

In case the selector lever does not accurately align roller 16 with a selected guideway, the roller will enter the guideway due to its cylindrical form and the well-rounded entrance to guideway, and in doing so, will shift the ratio sleeve to correctly align the selected ratio gear with the ratio pinion, thereby insuring a proper functioning of the machine.

When the selector lever is positioned in the next or three-cent notch 51 of the selector positioning comb, the roller 16 will be moved into substantial alignment with the three-cent guideway 13b. This same movement of the selector lever will act to shift the multi-denomination locating tooth 62 into substantial alignment with the three-cent guideway Blb of comb 60.

If the machine is now operated, the multidenomination locating tooth 62 will enter guideway 61b while the multi-ratio guideway 'l3b will move to engage roller 16, whereby the three-cent printing di-e l9b will be accurately located in printing register, and the three-cent multi-ratio gear 331) will be correctly located in driving relation with the ratio pinion 3B, and as a result thereof the value of three cents will be clearly printed with the printing of the stamp, and this same value will be added in meter 26 and subtracted from the balance remaining in meter 25.

By shifting the selector lever to the next or six-cent notch of the selector locating comb 55, the multi-denomination location tooth 62 will be moved into substantial alignment with the sixcent guideway Bic, while the multi-ratio roller will be swung into substantial alignment with the six-cent guideway 130. If the machine is placed in operation, the locating means will function as previously described, to insure a clear and distinct printing of a six-cent value in the stamp and the registration of this figure in the respective meters.

When the selector lever is moved to the last or ten-cent notch, tooth 62 will move into substantial alignment with the ten-cent guideway Bld, while roller 16 will be swung into substantial alignment with the ten-cent guideway 13d, and during the operation of the machine these devices will act to maintain the ten-cent printing die 19d located in correct printing register, and the ten-cent ratio gear 33d in correct driving relation with the ratio pinion 36, whereby the value often cents will be clearly printed, and this same amount will be added and subtracted from the respective meters.

Should the selector means fail, for any reason, to place the selected printing die in correct printing register, the multi-denomination locating means will function during the initial portion of the operating cycle of the machine to positively actuate the selected printing die into correct printing register, and will act to maintain the die so registered until after the printing operation. Likewise, should the selector means fail, for any reason, to place the selected ratio gear in correct driving position, the multi-ratio locating means will function during the initial position of the operating cycle of the machine, to positively shift the selected ratio gear into correct driving ratio, and will maintain the ratio gear so positioned until after the completion of the registering operation.

A further advantage derived from the use of these features, is the positive locking of the multidenomination printing and multi-ratio driving means in their selected positions during the operating cycle of the machine, whereby even by means of the selector, they cannot be changed after the machine has started upon its operating cycle.

Having fully described a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is for illustrative purposes only, and I do not desire to be limited by any of the details shown or described, except as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a multi-denomination printing machine, an oscillatory frame, a printer head carried thereby, multi-denomination printing means operatively mounted in said head and having a plurality of value printing dies, selector means operable for actuating the multi-denomination printing means to present any one of. the value printing dies to printing register, a member of said selector means being operatively carried by said frame, comb means fixedly mounted in the machine and having an appropriate guideway for each selective denomination, and a locking tooth carried by said member arranged to engage the related comb guideway for the selected denomination during a predetermined portion of the oscillatory motion of said frame for maintaining the multi-denomination printing. means in correct printing register with the printer head.

7 FRANK P. SAGER. 

